#i have not being so active on this fandom on a while

[melmedarda]

Those in the fandom calling Mel manipulative are suffering from a severe lack of media literacy. Mel being framed as manipulative is a misdirect, said by the writers themselves in the Art of Arcane book. And those who refuse to see Mel as anything other than manipulative are falling into that trap.

The writers have set her up to appear as one thing while being another. She is a woman of mercy. She has all the tools to be like Ambessa, all the upbringing, but she actively pushes against it. She's pragmatic and utilitarian in her political approach. It's not about what is best for her, but what is for the greater good. For Mel it's about giving back. She did not invest in Hextech for herself, but to protect the city of Piltover from threats like Ambessa, while Ambessa only wanted to use it for their family. A lot of the fandom is painting Mel as the woman Ambessa is, and frankly, that is a disservice to Mel's character. She is not perfect. Yes she is wealthy, and yes she was either unaware/inactive in regards to the state of Zaun, I will not deny that. Her inaction caused her much regret, as she says in her game lines, which shoes she can learn the hard lessons from her mistakes. She is not the villain you all believe her to be

She is complex, but she is filled with good will. She never manipulated Jayce but mentored him to operate in the political arena of Piltover so that Hextech would not be monopolized or crushed by those in the council. When she did use her influence within the council, it was to save Jayce from exile, to prepare appropriate measures to protect Piltover by someone who would not taint its purpose (which is why it had to be Jayce), and to grant independence to Zaun. Yes, her decisions appear self-serving at first, but when you take a step back, you see it. It was her way of giving back to the city, she says as much to Jayce. To protect her city and the lives within it. Her approach may not be as straightforward, but she is no less well intentioned for it.

In season 2 she says, "No life is expendable." To Ambessa, she says "If you care for me at all, spare their lives." And her in game line reiterates this sentiment, "To think these gifts were hidden within me. The lives I could have saved…" This is her driving force in all that she does. Her respect for the sanctity of life is what Ambessa considers Mel's weakness, but really, it is her greatest strength and I will always love her for it. It's the reason why I am so eager to see how she fares in Noxus, where strength is glorified, and the only way death is decided is by taking life. It's my hope that she doesn't change, and that her compassion will continue to be her strength. I hope she breaks the cycle, and is free of Ambessa standards. I do not want Riot to make Mel into another Ambessa. I do not want Noxus to taint her.

[telomeke]

MY 2024 TUMBLR TOP 10

Yes I'm really late with this (totally on-brand for me 🤣) but that is the downside of waiting for 2024 to end before posting about it – and then taking too long to complete the task. Still, better late than never!

I was tagged to do this by @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle at this post here. Thanks dearie! 🥰 (And if you'd like to play along too, there's no need to trawl through your posts manually, thank heaven. Just go to this website – Jet Black Code – and it'll list your Top 10 Tumblr posts in seconds. 👍😊)

So my activity on Tumblr (particularly writing about Thai BL) took a serious dip in 2024 (especially the latter half) for a number of reasons:

Work has ramped up in the post-COVID era, with work projects now coming onstream fast and furious. This has left me with a lot less time outside of work, which translates to less time for QL-watching, and (obviously) also less time to post about it.

My favorite queer auteur Aof Noppharnach Chaiyahwimhon has decided to step back from writing and directing (see these posts here and here), and in his absence I'm finding that non-Aof QL offerings are (perhaps unsurprisingly) disappointingly patchy in quality, which has turned QL-watching into a bit of a crapshoot (and less of a draw). With my short attention span I frankly need a show to be arresting in some way to stay committed – although I must add here that I don't need it to be highbrow art, just entertaining enough without being unduly insulting to the gray matter. So even a trashy series is fine as long as it's made clear to us we have to leave our loftier expectations at the door (memories of KinnPorsche flashing in my mind here – which also tells me my gray matter can handle quite a barrage of insulting if a show is entertaining enough 🤣). I was momentarily heartened by the promise of Khun Aof helming the GeminiFourth vehicle Ticket to Heaven in 2025 (such a beautiful trailer, a lush mini-movie almost), but I've come around to thinking this is more of an activist statement by him (commenting on the mainstream Christian/Catholic position vis-à-vis LGBTQ+ issues, remembering also that Khun Aof has a Catholic background). With this as the context, there's a high chance this show will never get made due to various sensitivities (but I live in hope nonetheless!):

With Khun Aof taking more of a backseat, my main feed for BL – GMMTV – seems to have pressed the pause button on more thought-provoking fare in favor of shows that are more formulaic and mass-market (read: vehicles for their branded couples, squarely aimed at the less discriminating and freer-spending sectors of the squealing teen audience). I've written more about it at these links here and here. And it's tough to keep watching GMMTV series when the plots don't deviate much from a well-worn template, rehashing narrative tropes because the formula is a proven money-spinner. A case in point: Kidnap the Series – never thought I'd give up on a show brimming with episode upon episode of a macho, shirtless, simping Ohm Pawat, but all that radiant manflesh still wasn't enough to keep me interested, which simply goes to show how dire the situation is. 😬🤷‍♂️ And with GMMTV enticing me less and less, I've been posting even less about BL as a result too.

Anyway, this explains why I have more original posts in the first half of 2024, while the latter half was mostly reblogs of other people's posts (and in keeping with the dictates of the game I'm only listing my own posts here, for what it's worth).

So after all that, on to my Top 10 for 2024:

✨NUMBER 1✨

My most popular post of the year was about a mysterious monk who inexplicably kept popping up in various Thai BLs: 👀

Appearing in Bad Buddy, KinnPorsche and The Sign, he was also sighted in non-BLs Pee Nak (still LGBTQ+ friendly), The Cave, Hemimeta, The Believers and The Murderer, resolutely a monk in all but the last one.

So working collectively, the BL fandom somehow managed to track down and identify the actor who plays everyone's favorite BL-friendly monk – he's Werawat Jumroensarn, not actually a monk in real life but nonetheless still a highly-religious Thai Buddhist who adroitly brings a sagely, monastic vibe to all his roles. The Thai BL fandom salutes you, Khun Werawat! 🙏����

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✨NUMBER 2✨

This post was an explainer for the sudden flood of videos and GIFs on Tumblr showing Babe Tanatat all dressed up in traditional costume finery and performing a ceremonial dance somewhere outside Bangkok, while Billy Patchanon flapped about him gaily and garudaesquely in decidedly more normcore and less flashy garb.

The event turned out to be a worship ceremony put on by Idol Factory in faraway Nakhon Phanom, to honor the Great Naga of the Mekong even as The Sign deployed naga and garuda mythology in its storytelling, making waves here on Tumblr for fusing Thai supernatural beliefs with BL.

It was a highly respectful gesture from Idol Factory, thanking the nagas for allowing a representation of their story to be told as part of The Sign. Also respectful was the decision to have Billy abstain from the performance, probably because he was playing one of the garudas (who are mortal enemies of the nagas). All of which goes to show just how much belief in the spiritual and supernatural is woven throughout everyday life in Thailand. 👍

Babe, Heng and Songjet's little dance video at the link above is also breathtakingly beautiful. If I were the Naga being worshipped I'd certainly feel very honored indeed. 😍

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✨NUMBER 3✨

Ooh. 😵 This was one sex-drenched post, all about the visual rhetoric surrounding Tharn and Phaya's first time consummating their forbidden love and lust for each other (at least in their current reincarnations) as portrayed in The Sign:

So hot was the subject matter that despite my clinical descriptions and focus on the art direction, Tumblr's wonky algorithms (or possibly just some overworked backroom staff? 😂) decided that it was all too... too... (swoons into a deathly faint here) unseemly for the delicate constitution of the average Tumblrina in the BL fandom. (Yeah, right. Did no one survive KinnPorsche, Pit Babe or Playboyy??? 🤣)

And so they BLOCKED IT. Not once, but TWICE, which sent me scurrying to Admin with a flurry of appeals and explanations (that finally succeeded in getting the post reinstated, thank goodness). 😬

But really, all I was doing was noting how the lighting, colors, props and cinematography were working together to echo the breathless sensuality throbbing onscreen, when our two protagonists gave in to primordial desires much greater than themselves and attempted to unite their bodies as much as they could to counterbalance the heavily pre-ordained intertwining of their souls.

I think Idol Factory did a great job all around with this scene (both the players in front of the lens as well as those behind it). But was my post really all that raunchy though? I'll have to let you decide. 🤔

(above) The Sign Ep.7 [5/5] 19.47 – Phaya hungrily tops a gasping Tharn, even while a hard-working lamp from the Austin Powers range of home furnishings tries its best to do double duty : casting a sexy magenta light on everything while clumsily censoring any possible glimpse of Nagaruda penis and buttcrack 🤣

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✨NUMBER 4✨

Ah. Hmmm. 👀 Oops! Well, well...

I assure you, gentle reader and fellow BL fan, that I am not wholly possessed of a one-track mind – and yet somehow the next post here has also managed to turn all sexy and magenta while winking slyly at unspoken meanings hidden between the lines. Again. 🤣

Taking my Number 4 spot is a light-hearted post about Wandee Goodday nodding tongue-in-cheek at some legendary Thai porn, and this sideways jokery also shone as an example of WDGD's early charm, wit and intelligence. There was so much to look at and write about in the series, and I was especially taken with the lighting and art direction (all that yellow and magenta, standing in for Yoryak and Wandee) that I wrote reams about it.

But then… I decided not to post any of that, when the latter half of the show began to wander woozily about, punch drunk and semi-directionless, leading to an ending that turned out to be quite a letdown.

They squandered the obvious chemistry between the two leads and allowed a promising sexbuds-to-soulmates love story meander to an unsatisfying conclusion. So many clever elements, but all set free to run wildly in a plethora of uncoordinated directions. This one disappointed me in the end, and it makes me sad to think of what might have been. But its fun moments were fun indeed, so I guess it's not a total loss. Inn Sarin really needs to start dialling back on the plastic surgery though. 😂

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✨NUMBER 5✨

Oh thank goodness there was 4 Minutes for us to lose our minds over collectively in 2024. Sleek, shiny, sexy – and that was just Great's car collection (the show itself, even more so 🥰).

Ah the mystery of it all! So convoluted was the Sammon plot that I found myself churning out post after post (work deadlines be damned) trying to guess at the underlying logic coursing beneath the spooky narrative onscreen, adding to the roiling cauldron of fan theories on Tumblr aiming to explain it all.

In the end Be On Cloud chose a more middle-of-the-road resolution, but there's no denying 4 Minutes captured the imaginations of so many. I remained impressed through to the end, and I will say it again: Director Ning Bhanbhassa Dhubthien is one to watch, especially if her sure hand is allowed to rein in the excesses of Khun Pond and Dr. Sammon's wilder imaginings.

But my most popular post about 4 Minutes wasn't anything to do with the screenwriting, cinematography or directing though. 🤔

As usual, a pithy take (only nine words!) is easier to like and reblog on Tumblr, and all I did was point out a cute detail about the merchandise – when you place the black and white cat plushies (standing in for Great and Tyme) side-by-side, the random color blocks on the side of each, marring the individual symmetry, form a perfect and symmetrical heart when it's cats à deux:

And of course this is signaling how each completes the other in GreatTyme's unconventional, multi-pronged love story. Big AWWWW here 💖, but then again let's not forget how DARK it all is so let's go in with a black-and-white color scheme to remind us we ain't in Hello Kitty World, but also let's not get too dark so it's soft soft kitties all the way, but oh dear that's too cute so let's give them grumpy, frowny faces and make them look as malevolent as can be. Oh! But how then did we end up with MALEVOLENT cat plushies, spawn of brooding kittenish evil, pets and pride of Chucky? Then again, why not malevolent cat plushies for the win? 🤣

I can't help thinking the constant push and pull between commercial considerations versus artistic vision in Thai BL will always follow a similar trackway, though Be On Cloud seems to have done a better job with 4 Minutes than GMMTV on most of their offerings, is my take on the subject. 😍

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✨NUMBER 6✨

OK, so I'm not watching The Heart Killers, nor have I ever seen The Taming of the Shrew (that one episode of Moonlighting and 10 Things I Hate About You don't count), but nonetheless it tickled me no end to see Shakespeare credited as a co-creator on My Drama List for this series, and my Number 6 post was a signal boost for that:

This wasn't just some editor at MDL having a lark, though I do approve. Willie Shakes is also credited on other Asian productions there (As We Like It and The Banquet) and he now has his own MDL page too. 😂👍

Anyway, credit where credit is due! 😍 (Move over Mr. Kaewpanpong, a new William has joined the BL fold. 🤣)

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✨NUMBER 7✨

If you've ever been mystified by the vagaries of romanized Thai spelling and pronunciation, my favorite Thai (and Canadian) chef Pailin Chongchitnant has a nifty little vid that goes some way to explain its complexity, linked in this post:

Prior to this, I had so many questions: 🤣

Why does Pat in Bad Buddy spell his name with an 'h'? Why does Google Translate spell his name with an 'r', and why does the Google lady pronounce it Pat-tara?

Still in BBS, why does Pran's mom call him (to my ears) Bprrraan when Pa calls him Bpaan? (Like, where did the 'r' go?🤷‍♂️)

What's up with the 'l' in Tul Pakorn's name sounding more like an 'n'? WHAT DO YOU MEAN Suvarnabhumi is pronounced more like Suwannapoom!? 👀😂

I now have a better understanding of the linguistic (and socio-political/cultural) contortions going on behind the scenes here after watching Pai's video, and I hold her encouraging words to heart (as dear @recentadultburnout reminded me in a comment on the post 🥰): "Whatever you do, it's just all various degrees of wrong." 🤣 Not a put-down, simply Pai letting us know that the language is far more complex than can be summarized with the puny 26 letters of the English alphabet. 👍🤩

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✨NUMBER 8✨

A little out of character for me, but this post has no images. And then it starts out with "There are no words..." when the post is all words. 🤣

It's really a short post about the whiplash we all went through when the arguably milk-and-water Last Twilight aired its episodes on the same day as the sex-forward Omegaverse-inhabiting Pit Babe. Really, there are no words that can do the experience justice. 🤣

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✨NUMBER 9✨

Are we descending into a pattern here? 🤣 Post Number 9 consists of a single image and no text (except for the subtitles):

Well I did caption it in the ALT Text though: 🤣

Wandee Goodday Ep.6 [4/4] 8.06 – Yoryak references the night it all began, when he rescued a trashy pile of a doctor outside a convenience store

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✨NUMBER 10✨

And rounding up my Top 10 was a signal boost bit of BL reportage, linking to the GoyNattyDream in-car interview on YouTube with Mew Suppasit and Tul Pakorn, BL royalty and officially a couple in real life:

Mew and Tul had soft-launched confirmation of their romance in the months preceding with tons of social media posts showing them hanging out and holidaying together, but from what I can gather this was the first time (or if not the first, at least one of the earliest times) they out-and-out confirmed their relationship, and candidly spoke about it, on the record. 💖

A big step for Thai BL, that paradoxically has to operate in an industry where people in positions of influence can sometimes be homophobic to actors who are (or even suspected of being) queer in real life. 👀

Congratulations to the happy couple, and congratulations to you too, dear reader, if you've read this post all the way down to here!

Not much else to do but tag others – although this is so late I figure everyone's already done it. But since I've not been on Tumblr much I've missed who's done it and who's not, so I'm just going to tag people at random, and if you've already done this please link me to your post so I can read it. 🥰 And even if I've not tagged you but you'd like to play please do so (and tag me too, so I can read your post)!

Onward tagging:

@bengiyo

@neuroticbookworm

@dribs-and-drabbles

@solitaryandwandering

@airenyah

@grapejuicegay

@waitmyturtles

@twig-tea

@rythyme

@respectthepetty

@relativelydimensional

@wen-kexing-apologist

@colourme-feral

@ranchthoughts

@chickenstrangers

@callipigio

@kattahj

@non-binarypal7

@starryalpacasstuff

@shortpplfedup

@hughungrybear

@pandasmagorica

@visualtaehyun

@inventedfangirling

@recentadultburnout

@dimplesandfierceeyes

@dudeyuri

@lovelyghostv

@dc-alves

@fiddlepickdouglas

@hapiestupid

@yinwaryuri

@writerwithoutsound

@randompens

@nihilisticcondensedmilk

@syrinth

@naniskys

@delesaria-blog

@narcissusneverknewme

@pokomumee

@suni-san

@belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas

@aroceu

@italianpersonwithashippersheart

Tagging @lurkingshan too – I already read and reblogged your post (linked here), but if you think there are others I should check out please do let me know! 💖

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[take-care-of-it]

I think one of the big splits in the fandom ie curly is how they choose to interpret Anya’s “I told you.” line. On how long ago she told him, if she told him explicitly or through implication, etc. All factors that would lead you to different opinions about the guy.

Me personally, I think Anya explicitly told him about her assault either soon before the events of the game or the night of the dead pixel conversation, after we’ve cut away. My interpretation is that Curly, explicitly sleep-deprived, fired, and possibly hallucinating, (wrongly) did not prioritize this knowledge and was genuinely taken off guard by the pregnancy thing until Anya reminded him.

Especially given that Curly is privileged and is explicitly shown to have blind spots regarding this fact, I think it’s not something he forgets maliciously. Rather, through systemic and subconscious personal misogyny, he slots it lower down on the list of priorities than it should’ve been. I can see him thinking of it as a problem that “only” effects one member of the crew, not seeing that not only is this line of thinking bad for its own sake, but also that it is a wider spanning issue that affects the whole crew. Someone who can rationalize violating someone’s autonomy so completely in one scenario can and will do it in others, something we tragically see as the events of the game play out.

I also don’t think Curly simply didn’t believe her when she told him, both the first time and the reminder. I think he DOES believe her. But after her reminder, I could see him being afraid of “ruining Jimmy’s life.” Not only is this a classic line of thinking with systemic misogyny, but Jimmy absolutely would blame Curly. We see him guilt trip Curly over less multiple times.

Speaking of, I think he’s also afraid of Jimmy’s reaction in general. When he does take action, it’s to placate Jimmy. And I don’t think it’s this moment of “curly 100 percent agrees with what he’s saying”, you’d have to be ignoring literally all the surrounding context to miss how much he’s panicking. He’s trying to calm Jimmy down. He thinks that his complacency will stop Jimmy from taking drastic action. He is, tragically, wrong. Something Anya might’ve been able to tell him, but I think people forget that she takes the same strategy, especially post-crash.* It works until it doesn’t.

*(There ARE differences between the two of them is circumstance. Curly is in a role of power, and they’re in a situation pre-crash that hasn’t devolved so entirely as the one the crew is in post crash. Not to mention, while both of them hope Jimmy will suddenly realize he’s a jerk and work on himself, Anya explicitly knows this. She explicitly both knows that Jimmy’s a jerk and that she is afraid of him (for valid reasons.) She’s also aware of her strategy’s limited life span due to the whole gun self-defense conversation. Her complacency is kind of a second-to-last resort for her, and she’s driven to it by the extenuatingly awful circumstances of the situation. She is achingly aware of her own situation at all times.)

While it seems that curly hasn’t really come to terms with any of those ideas. It seems more subconscious for him. I think he isn’t even aware consciously that he IS afraid of Jimmy. It might even be something he’s willingly ignoring, considering just how quick he does believe Anya once he’s reminded.

I don’t think Curly’s inaction is due to malicious intent. Nor do I think he doesn’t believe Anya. The points the game is making about systemic misogyny don’t need either of these things to be true for them to land. Especially in how capitalism and the system itself enables it. The reality is, coming forward professionally with assault allegations is usually unrewarded within the system, sometimes actively punishined. But it’s still worth it. It’s still the correct thing to do, even if it isn’t easy. Having Curly’s situation be complicated, having him be sympathetic, and still having him be wrong only strengthens the games themes. I prefer it over interpretations that make him and active helper to Jimmy AND interpretations that seek to absolve him entirely.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

To address some further points that the notes have been kind enough to bring up, it would appear further debunking is needed. To be clear, I get that most people don't have my encyclopedic knowledge of a series that ended a quarter century ago and are getting their information filtered through fandom. However.

"She doesn't acknowledge the sacrifices her friends make for the war effort."

Counterpoint:

"I guess I'm not you, Tobias. I guess I'm not willing to make the sacrifices you've made... That can mean... I'm a coward. I'm selfish." (Cassie, #19)

"'Each day, each battle, each mission, I just feel less and less.' ...I turned to Jake. He made the ghost of a smile and nodded his head. He understood. He knew. It was happening to him, too." (Cassie, #19)

"Cassie put her arm around my shoulder. It is a human gesture of comfort. 'You okay?' she asked. [Ax just rejected the only 3 other andalites on the planet.]... Cassie held my hand, and in the darkness where no one could see, I cried." (Ax, #38)

"She [Rachel] had this way of seeming untouched by what went on around her. Unaffected. Above... But the war had touched her. She'd changed, and she'd known she was changing... My beautiful, brave best friend." (Cassie, #54)

"'So how is he [Jake], really?' /'I'm not exactly a psychiatrist, Cassie.' /I wasn't going to accept that. "Marco, you have a very subtle mind and you're a good observer. And he's your best friend." (Cassie, #54)

"Jake had done an almost superhuman job of protecting his parents. Both from death and a fate worse than death. Infestation. Until the last time." (Cassie, #50)

"He wants us to just quit the whole thing... But at the same time, it's Marco who is very aware of all the security problems. He's the one who makes sure we never discuss anything on the phone, where enemy ears might be listening in." (Cassie, #4)

In conclusion: I could go on, but she's IMHO more aware of the others' sacrifices than Ax or Marco is.

"Her saving Ax with brain surgery in #29 is a deus ex machina"

Counterpoint: First, trephination predates writing in parts of the world so, a) it can be done without modern tools, b) it can be done without written instruction (which Cassie has), c) it can be done without yeerk assistance (which Cassie has). Cassie doesn't literally trepan Ax, but her surgery isn't far off.

Second... I already brought up Tobias reshaping the history of the entire Earth, didn't I? Aight, how about:

Marco predicts Visser One's moves months in advance, using information gleaned from 3 interactions with her that each lasted less than 15 minutes (#30)

Ax, who weighs ~100lbs, kills a T. rex that weighs ~25,000lbs using only his tail (MM2)

Rachel fights three hork-bajir controllers, injuring two and killing one, with no morphing and only melee weapons (MM4)

Tobias catches an arrow in midair, intercepting an object traveling at over 200 MPH while himself traveling at up to 60 MPH and actively being shot at (MM3)

Marco and Ax hack the CIA database in an afternoon because they're bored (#48)

In conclusion: It's a superhero story, ffs.

"Her ability to morph well is rarely or never helpful"

Counterpoint: This one has got to be down to OP not having read the books in ~20 years.

In #37, she morphs her way out of shackles without revealing she's human by only demorphing parts of her polar bear legs.

In #44, she pulls a similar trick by breaking into an airplane with human fingers while still 90% gull.

The default "nuclear option" (MM1, #24, #34, #39) is for the kids to drop Moby Cassie on their problems, a strategy that never fails to get results — and that hinges on Cassie being able to turn into a whale ultra-fast while retaining some of her bird parts.

In #9, she saves everyone's lives by regaining control of her termite morph long enough to kill the queen, something none of her friends can do.

In #3, #21, and #26, she saves fellow morphers from being trapped by helping them demorph.

In conclusion: Cassie being a skilled morpher doesn't become useful quite as often as Tobias's flying skills or Ax's lightning calculation, but it's a close contest.

"She's the one who pushed the others to dump oatmeal in the yeerk pool and later to drop a nuclear bomb on it."

Counterpoint: This one has got to be down to OP not having read the books in ~20 years, but also it's extremely telling that this false rumor is making its way around the fandom. I'm sure someone's come up with a way to blame her for the JFK assassination and the Mount St. Helens eruption while they're at it.

"'Cassie?' I asked. 'What do you think?' /... When she turned around, I was shocked. She had a stricken look. 'I... I don't know anymore, okay?... All the rights and wrongs, and all the lines between good and evil...' Cassie hugged herself." (Rachel, #17)

"I kicked the rest of the barrels into the pool, just so Marco couldn't possibly miss. Then Cassie went off to free the others... «Marco has to shoot,» I said... /«He's not leaving us any choice,» Tobias said grimly. He hopped over to sit on Marco's shoulder. «You're aiming high,» he said. «A hair lower...»" (Rachel, #17)

[Jake and Eva discuss bombing the yeerk pool] "«You know, maybe we should rethink this,» Tobias said. /'Yeah, we should,' Cassie agreed. 'This mission is way too heavy with bad karma.' .../'I'm out,' Cassie said hotly. 'I thought that maybe... but I can't. And I can tell you my parents are out, too.' .../ Cassie turned to walk away, but Jake grabbed her sleeve. 'Cassie! Come on.'/ 'Come on what! ... You don't knowingly take innocent life. Not if you're a decent person. I thought you knew that, Jake.'" (Ax, #52)

"'Cassie's going [on the mission],' Jake said. 'If there are tough decisions to be made along the way, I want Cassie to make them.' .../'Cassie!' Marco sighed. 'We increase the risk...' /«Cassie is right,» I said abruptly. «We agreed to give a full five minutes to those who wish to escape. To give them less would be dishonorable and inhumane.»" (Ax, #52)

In conclusion: She's capable of tough calls when they need to be made. But she always opposes slaughtering unhosted yeerks.

"Cassie is preachy and moralizing"

Counterpoint: I could bring up all the times Jake outright scolds someone for going against the team, or the times Tobias decides the fate of the world based on a gut feeling, or the times Marco's a straight-up asshole about someone disagreeing with him. But instead I'd like to list Cassie's morals:

Don't kill prisoners of war if at all possible (#19, #52, #16)

Don't ask anyone else to do something you wouldn't be willing to do yourself (#9, #19)

We should maybe stop annihilating every other species on Earth at top speed, even if doing so is good for the economy (#4, #9, #24)

Sport hunting is wasteful (#29)

Hunting for food is not only acceptable, but often a person's only option (#25, #9)

Animals feel pain (#4, #28)

Animal experimentation, especially for cosmetics, is cruel (#28)

It's better to fuck up by saving a life than by taking one (#19, #29, #50)

An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind (sometimes you have to compromise) (#41, #52)

In conclusion: The environmentalism is the obvious place where Cassie's idealism has stood the test of time, far better than Marco's mockery about logging limits being the same as "let dogs vote!" (#9). But if we take a step back from the idea that the point of war is winning at all costs (again: if you want that, play Call of Duty) then most of what Cassie supports seems downright reasonable. You don't have to agree with her on everything — I'm in favor of culling animal overpopulations with sport hunting — but in a lot of ways she's less extreme in her views than Marco or Ax.

So I'm putting together an In Defence of Cassie PowerPoint for a PowerPoint night with friends. Do you have any arguments for or against her? I trust your opinion and am curious.

Let's see.

"She's too powerful, too unique, too far-seeing, and not good enough for Jake! What a Mary Sue!"

Counterpoint: May I introduce you to the reigning champion fan favorite, Sad White Boy Tobias?

Only nothlit ever to regain the ability to morph

Only known human-andalite hybrid ever to exist

Regarded as savior by entire hork-bajir species

Entire existence is a time paradox the war hinges upon

Pulls the canonically "most beautiful girl in our grade", who turns down 6 or 7 other offers in favor of Bird Boy

Correctly predicted planetary ecology 65 million years in advance

Believed to be immune to 2-hour limit

In conclusion: y'all wouldn't be crying "Mary Sue" if Cassie was a sad white boy, and I can prove it.

"She's too weak and hand-wringing, and she never helps the war effort!"

Counterpoint: First of all, the fact that the same people say this in the same breath as "she's too powerful" is... telling. Secondly:

She saved the entire team's lives in #24, in #29, in #44, and in MM1, among others.

Specifically calling out #44 — that ending shows she is willing and able to be ruthless when her friends are in need. She doesn't like slaughtering human-controllers, but if the alternative is everyone she loves dying, then she'll fucking well do it.

Much like Jake (see: Sad White Boy), she's more willing to risk herself than her friends, hence the end of MM1

Her medical knowledge saves Marco from rabies, Ax from brain!appendicitis, and Tobias from bird flu.

Her survivalist knowledge saves everyone in #25 (the Arctic), MM2 (Cretaceous Era), #11 (rainforest), and #14 (desert).

In conclusion: Cassie's only idealistic-looking by the standards of this extremely morally gray team.

"She's so unfair to Jake!"

Counterpoint: Jake? The Jake who refused to speak with her for weeks? Jake who proposes marriage while they're still broken up? Jake who announces he'll never trust Cassie again because she [checks notes] saved his brother's life? That Jake?

Also:

She gives him tons of emotional support in #16, #21, #47, and other times he's feeling low.

They have a healthy argument where they air differences and come to an understanding in #9.

Did I mention he doesn't just dump her but ghosts her in the middle of the war's endgame?

They're teenagers. Their relationship isn't perfect, but it is built on open communication and mutual respect which is more than Rachel and Tobias can say

She's fighting a war, and PTSD for that matter. No, she doesn't have infinite emotional bandwidth.

In conclusion: Their relationship is fine, their breakup is mutual, and her behavior only looks bad if, once again, you're holding Cassie to a different standard than you are Jake.

"She shouldn't have trusted Aftran!"

Counterpoint: friendly reminder that the alternative was killing a 6-year-old for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If that's what you think Cassie should've done, that tells us more about you than about her.

"She spends too much time moralizing!"

Counterpoint: this is a book series about war, not a friggin' video game. If you want moral pornography, go play Call of Duty. If you want sci fi realism, then you're going to have to accept that a majority of humans prefer not to kill their fellow humans if at all possible.

"She's a ripoff of [insert character here]!"

Counterpoint: literally every single one of these says more about the commenter than about the source work. "Every dystopia is set in the U.S." is the kind of thing only people who only read books by American authors would think. "All epic fantasy is Eurocentric" => tell me you only read books by white people without telling me. I'm glad you think Cassie is too similar to Willow Rosenberg, but there are at least 6 other stories in the known world, and I hear some of them even feature sweet/dorky/caring characters who are secretly ultra-powerful.

In conclusion: You don't have to like Cassie as a (fictional) person, but 85% of criticisms directed at her are bad-faith attacks on one of the 1990s' only fat Black female gnc ultra-powerful superheroes.

[coraniaid]

I know it's never going to happen, but it sure would be nice if people in the Buffy fandom could shut about how much they hate Kennedy. We get it, you're boring and predictable and have poor taste. But why not just ... keep it to yourself? Why assume everybody scrolling the tags wants to read your bad takes?

You don't even have anything original to say.

"Oh, but the writers rushed Willow into a new relationship too soon; Willow would never--"

I'm sorry, but are we talking about Willow Rosenberg, the girl who tried to encourage Buffy back into "date mode" because "love is nice" not only weeks after Buffy's ex-boyfriend had lost his soul, but while he was still actively terrorizing her and trying to kill her friends? The girl who tried to set Buffy up with a new boyfriend, because "you're ready now", just days after Buffy got back from months spent hiding out alone in a strange city while grieving over having to send that same ex-boyfriend to hell to save the world? Who -- after said ex came back from hell and then broke up with her -- then pushed her to try to date the first person who seemed interested in her in college, no matter how reluctant Buffy told her she was and how little either of them knew about him? That's the Willow we're talking about? That's the girl you think wouldn't rush into a new relationship?

Willow has always invested a huge amount of her self-worth in being worthy of love and being able to be loved by others, and she's always assumed that everyone else does the same. That's who she is. We're talking about the girl who ran off to cry when she realized the friend she'd been crushing on for years was dating somebody she didn't like because "it means you'd rather be with somebody you hate than be with me". The girl who only finally got over said crush when she started dating somebody new. Who was so upset when he left her too, years later, that she attracted the attention of a vengeance demon who told her she had "pain that pierces dimensional walls"; and who only really got over that when she met Tara. Who later describes her relationship with Tara as "the only thing" she had going for her. All the way back in Season 1, the first episode that ever focused on Willow was about her attracting the romantic attention of a demon obsessed with wanting its followers to love and worship it. Wanting to be loved is, arguably, the most consistent character trait Willow has ever had.

And look: Willow tortured and killed the man who murdered Tara; she came close to ending the world rather than living in it without her; when she comes back to Sunnydale months later, still mourning, she makes a point of visiting Tara's grave. She's twenty-one years old. It's not moving too fast for her to want to be part of a relationship again; it's the only way somebody like Willow can really stop being unhappy and find some measure of peace and emotional stability. Do you really want Willow to end the show miserable and single and mourning? Do you think that shows more respect towards Tara?

"Oh, but Kennedy is so different from Tara, surely Willow would never--"

We don't know what Willow's type is! Before Season 7, Tara is the only woman we ever see Willow show the slightest bit of interest in! And, again, Willow is twenty one years old. She met Tara when they were both teenagers. Are you still exclusively interested in the type of person you were attracted to when you were a teenager?

Tara is different enough from Oz, who was different enough from Xander, that I think it's safe to guess that Willow's romantic taste is broader than you might think. And the one thing that Kennedy does have in common with Tara (and with Oz before her) is that she is very, very obviously into Willow as soon as they meet. That's what we know about Willow's type: she falls for people who are, on sight, transfixed by Willow.

"Oh, but Kennedy treats Buffy so disrepectfully, she--"

Wow. A teenage girl not showing proper reverence to an older, more experienced person who -- without consulting her about it -- positions themselves as some sort of unelected authority figure? Oh, yes, I can see why fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer would hate somebody like that. That's nothing like anybody we've seen on the show before.

Why should Kennedy like Buffy? Why should she respect her? She doesn't know her! Anything she's heard about Buffy Summers before Season 7 she'd have heard from the Watchers, who have no reason to be honest or favorable about her. When she gets to Sunnydale she gets to live in Buffy's crowded, cramped house, and train in her garden all day, and listen to speeches by somebody who tells her she's probably going to die soon and will probably deserve it. Somebody who doesn't make any effort to get to know her or bond with her as a person. Somebody who mocks girls like her for being driven to suicide (girls who are, in Buffy's words, "weak" and "idiots"), who sleeps with vampires and is friends with demons and comes up with plans that get the other Potentials -- Kennedy's friends, girls Kennedy herself feels responsible for (just like Buffy would if their positions were reversed!) -- seriously hurt or even killed. What does Buffy ever do to earn Kennedy's respect?

Don't get me wrong, most of Buffy's friends treat her pretty terribly this season [this is not a comment about Buffy's friends as much as it is about the quality of the writing this season]. But while Dawn or Willow or Xander helping to kick Buffy out of her own house is appalling and ungrateful and out of character, when Kennedy does it it makes sense. Buffy hasn't ever treated Kennedy as a friend, so why would she magically become one?

"Oh, but Kennedy is so rich and entitled and bossy, she--"

You're a hypothetical Buffy fan on Tumblr. I know if I look I will find posts talking about how much you like Season 1 Cordelia Chase. I'm just saying that maybe this isn't a route you want to go down.

"Oh, but Kennedy's just in the season too much, I wanted more focus on the original--"

This season does try to juggle too many characters, and it would be better if it spent more time examining Buffy's relationship with Willow and Xander and Giles. But the way you achieve that is by downplaying Andrew Wells (a lot), cutting out a lot of the more forgettable Potentials, entirely getting rid of Caleb [the actual worst Buffy character, for the record] and throwing out the awful time-wasting subplots around Spike's hypnotic trigger and the non-mystery of Giles obviously not being the First. It's not by reducing the amount of screen time Kennedy or Robin Wood get, because they are the new characters this season should actually be about.

"Oh, but-"

No, enough. I'm sick of it.

[wendelsae]

Dune characters & their tumblrs

(if you ask how they use tumblr without computers it works off filmbook strips. you have your strip and then you add new frames onto it to post or copy & stitch on other frames to reblog. and then this gets transmitted over and synchronized every day through the Guild mail then printed onto filmbook strips your followers have. Ix makes machines that are very good at these processes.)

the mentats demand that no one post their position or house allegiance.

Duncan @samurai-of-seduction made an account after Paul showed him his. he's 90% an I Appreciate Fine Wine Fine Women Fast Thopters type boomer, 10% swordsmanship.

Feyd is an edgy maleblogger trying to be hard with a name like @poisonedbladecoldplasteel who posts his sparring videos and is mutuals with Duncan. he thinks Paul is a girl and is always trying to get her attention. once Duncan posted a video which accidentally showed the Atreides crest and Feyd went reblogged with a rant about how he can't believe he's an Atreides supporter, does he know what Philippos XV did to House Lankiveil, he's so disgusted. but he didn't actually break mutuals.

Paul is @myterriblepurpose and has a description like ~ sweet little kangaroo mouse ravished by God's cruel hawk ~. he would mainly reblog desert animal pictures, OC Bible quotes with long soliloquies underneath, and balliset songs & pictures of guerillas, especially off Jamis's blog which still has an active queue.

Chani @vampirejihad mainly reblogs the same cute animals Paul does, girly sietchcore, and pictures of guerillas. she also has a forcefrem kink sideblog.

Irulan @the-history-heiress is like a prim fandom & history blogger who tries to be informative & professional but isn't terribly good at being accurate. she leaves long comments on all of Paul's soliloquies which he never responds to.

Alia @virginscheme has an incoherent mix of interests and random ravings which only Paul replies to. she loves to mock & correct Irulan, and often sends backhanded compliment anons (especially to Irulan and Rabban).

Hasimir @comtedelachapelle has a nearly empty blog with a few random reblogs from years ago, but he likes everyone's posts and often sends anons.

Margot @m07h3r0fmy573ri5 has some sort of 18+ kink blog (what the alleged kink is supposed to be isn't exactly clear to anyone). she wants to be flirty & playful and it comes across very cringe. she followed everyone but Paul & Irulan & Chani blocked her, while Feyd & Duncan & Alia followed her back. she tried to make it standard practice to post your entire genome in your bio.

Piter @stainsbecomewarnings reblogs fashion, desolate architecture, photos of vials of sapho & spice, and sometimes gore. he's one of the very few followers of Chani's sideblog.

Rabban @beast-dukeofthedesert-132 mainly reblogs generic memes and cute animal videos and Feyd's stuff and pictures of gorillas. his original posts are entirely in the form of old-fashioned Advice Animals like WHEN UNCLE REMOVES THE KINETIC ARTILLERY BOTTOM TEXT with a very distraught-looking fur whale.

[ggensblog]

Marauder request!!!!! The type of music they use as background white noise. Simple mundane stuff they like. Glad to see this fandom alive.

rahhh thanks for the request <3 i saw this on my way to the grocery store and was thinking about it so much i forgot to buy milk lmaoo

just miscellaneous headcannons ! this was fun! let me know if i should do this for other characters!

james potter

i feel like James would 100% buy into the idea of listening to classical music while he studies. like he heard about it from lily or something and fully convinced himself it works

that being said, i also feel like he would totally be the type to get distracted by said classical music and be like nodding his head along to the beat of it instead of actually locking in

physically cannot study when he's around other people, he will just start yapping about his day or quidditch or literally anything

accidentally sits too close to anyone else on the couch in the common room. like if remus was sitting on one side of the couch and the whole other side of it was open, he would still sit right next to remus.

remus lupin

he has this playlist of music that he's listened to so much that it has become background noise. does that make sense? like he doesn't have to pay attention to it- it's just kind of on

he either puts a shit ton of milk and sugar into his tea/coffee or none at all. there is no in-between and it depends on the day

he refuses to wear shoes in his room or even around the common room unless he is actively leaving. so instead he wears a pair of the most grandpa-esque slippers you've ever seen.

sirius and james hid the slippers one time just to see what would happen and remus didn't talk to them for the rest of the day

has awful posture

sirius black

maybe this is just in my head, but I feel like sirius would be really into jazz. not like the slow, sleepy stuff but the kind that people would dance to in parisian bars- yk?

alternatively he does not like classical music because its boring and predictable- peter asks him what the difference is and Sirius just sighs

regularly steals from remus' stash of chocolate and regularly blames it on james or peter

actually really enjoys reading, but only by choice and when he's alone because- similar to james- if there is another person around, then he will simply not get anything done

i feel like its a really common hc for sirius to speak french but my favorite caveat of this is him forgetting a word (like refrigerator or something) and not being able to remember it in any language

peter pettigrew

go-to fit is a striped sweater of some kind button up underneath with the collar showing because his mom said it made him look 'smart'

the psychopath studies in complete silence. the smallest noise and he's complaining about not being able to focus

collects figurines of some kind (super hero, celebrity, etc) and they're his prized possessions

sleeps with socks on (am i being too mean?)

left handed and grips his pencil/quill/whatever in a weird way

[miwiheroes]

Hii! I am a miltishipper and I honestly love byler, but I have a small doub. I see people saying, in the first scene in s4 when Mike is reading the card El gave him, Will's binder of drawings is under his bed, and why do you guys know It? I honestly, at first, thought it was a binder with cards from el but yall seem so sure about it so idk hehe.

Plus I really don't understand why would they make the love confession scene, I get that the music playing comes from Will's words and all, but whu would somebody on the writers room just say "let's make a love confession even though Mike is gonna end up with Will"

Ty for reading hope you can address these comments

Hi there!

I understand your confusion for people saying that it is a binder of Will's drawings ahaha, it's definitely not confirmed to be, but the reason why people say that it could be is because, unlike a binder of El's cards, there is confirmed existence of Mike having this binder.

You may not remember this detail, but:

As you can see in season 1, when Mike believes Will to be dead, he decides to go through Will's old drawings. Mike has clearly kept these drawings, or had them given to him, because how else would he own them? It's also clear these are Will's drawings because they all have Will's name in the bottom right corner.

And this right here is the binder on his lap ^^

This is obviously suggested to be full of Will's drawings because what else would it be filled with while he's staring at other drawings right? So to byler shippers this is really sweet because it suggests that Will has been giving Mike these drawings for a really long time, enough for him to have a binder full of them. So we kind of cling onto this cute lil detail ergo...

...we think this is the same binder. In my opinion, it doesn't look like the same one, and tbh, I've never really subscribed to this view that it is his binder of drawings. However, I'm not sure why (when everything in Mike's room is very queer coded) they chose to keep this in the shot along with all the other important details. Plus, it's shoved under his bed, foreshadowing how he's shoving everything else deep down, while the oneway closet sign thing foreshadows him being in the closet lmaoo

Sooo yeah it's way more likely that this is a binder full of Will's drawings than El's cards because that has actually had an appearance on the show before and would have some good symbolic merit.

'Why would somebody on the writers room just say "Let's make a love confession even though Mike is gonna end up with Will".'

To be honest, we don't know yet. YET. That's the whole thing. It's very clear from his words that these are lies, they are provable lies. It's clear that the Painting plot will come back at some point because a lie just can't sit and stay a lie forever, especially not in a show like Stranger Things that confronts every plot point.

All byler shippers really know is that the monologue is untruthful and did not work to save Max. We know that Will's words are used by Mike and that Will has to eventually confess his feelings if his character arc is to be complete. We know that a rejection from Mike would be super duper out of place and a getting over Mike arc for Will would just be a cop-out repeat of season 4.

What we do not truly know for sure is the narrative-plot-story reason for this specific monologue. Meaning: it will come up in a plot point in season 5. We just do not know what that is yet. A lot of the audience that aren't active participators in the Stranger Things fandom do question why they had Mike be constantly talking about El all season, they question why Will was made to tell a lie, they question why Mike said stuff like 'my life started the day my best friend disappeared'.

The writers' intent was to make us question this stuff, and when season 5 rolls around, in Finn's words (or the Duffer Brothers' i guess) 'It'll pay off in the end'. So we will get an explanation and look back on the monologue with a new meaning.

my personal theory is that mike saying i love you actually made el realise that she DID NOT need mike to say i love you to her in the end. before the lab, she thought that mike saying i love you to her is what she needed to feel like she wasn't a monster. however, she went to the lab and actually figured that out all on her own!!!! meaning, the writers probably had mike say i love you to her to make her realise that actually, she did not need this after all. idk

TY FOR UR ASK I LOVE THESEEE

[ovaryacted]

Randomly ranting about AI.

The thing that’s so fucking frustrating to me when it comes to chat ai bots and the amount of people that use those platforms for whatever godamn reason, whether it be to engage with the bots or make them, is that they’ll complain that reading/creating fanfic is cringe or they don’t like reader-inserts or roleplaying with others in fandom spaces. Yet the very bots they’re using are mimicking the same methods they complain about as a base to create spaces for people to interact with characters they like. Where do you think the bots learned to respond like that? Why do you think you have to “train” AI to tailor responses you’re more inclined to like? It’s actively ripping off of your creativity and ideas, even if you don’t write, you are taking control of the scenario you want to reenact, the same things writers do in general.

Some people literally take ideas that you find from fics online, word for word bar for bar, taking from individuals who have the capacity to think with their brains and imagination, and they’ll put it into the damn ai summary, and then put it on a separate platform for others so they can rummage through mediocre responses that lack human emotion and sensuality. Not only are the chat bots a problem, AI being in writing software and platforms too are another thing. AI shouldn’t be anywhere near the arts, because ultimately all it does is copy and mimic other people’s creations under the guise of creating content for consumption. There’s nothing appealing or original or interesting about what AI does, but with how quickly people are getting used to being forced to used AI because it’s being put into everything we use and do, people don’t care enough to do the labor of reading and researching on their own, it’s all through ChatGPT and that’s intentional.

I shouldn’t have to manually turn off AI learning software on my phone or laptop or any device I use, and they make it difficult to do so. I shouldn’t have to code my own damn things just to avoid using it. Like when you really sit down and think about how much AI is in our day to day life especially when you compare the different of the frequency of AI usage from 2 years ago to now, it’s actually ridiculous how we can’t escape it, and it’s only causing more problems.

People’s attention spans are deteriorating, their capacity to come up with original ideas and to be invested in storytelling is going down the drain along with their media literacy. It hurts more than anything cause we really didn’t have to go into this direction in society, but of course rich people are more inclined to make sure everybody on the planet are mindless robots and take whatever mechanical slop is fucking thrown at them while repressing everything that has to deal with creativity and passion and human expression.

The frequency of AI and the fact that it’s literally everywhere and you can’t escape it is a symptom of late stage capitalism and ties to the rise of fascism as the corporations/individuals who create, manage, and distribute these AI systems could care less about the harmful biases that are fed into these systems. They also don’t care about the fact that the data centers that hold this technology need so much water and energy to manage it it’s ruining our ecosystems and speeding up climate change that will have us experience climate disasters like with what’s happening in Los Angeles as it burns.

I pray for the downfall and complete shutdown of all ai chat bot apps and websites. It’s not worth it, and the fact that there’s so many people using it without realizing the damage it’s causing it’s so frustrating.

[atticusmorgentstern]

The thing that annoys me about Hera's treatment, though, is that it's steeped in sexism. Hera was more helpful on one quest than Poseidon was in the entirety of the PJO series. She was infinitely more helpful than 90% of gods in HOO (considering, you know, she was the only one actively trying to stop Gaea). And yet, she's hated because...she's not kind while helping out? When you actually look at all the things Hera did, she absolutely does not deserve the hate she gets in universe and from fans.

When she first shows up in BOTL, she gives them food, tells them to talk to Hephaestus, and tells them that Percy knows how to get through the Labyrinth. That is more help from one conversation than any other godly interaction we see. And yet, when she leaves, Annabeth is complaining that she didn't help them more! She didn't have to help at all!

Later, when they are in the Triple G Ranch, Hera pays for the quest members to pass through, but she doesn't pay for Nico. That's not great, I admit, but...why should she? She is concerned about the quest, not every random demigod. Just paying for them was still more than any other god was doing. And then, when fighting Geryon, she guided his arrow to kill him, saving their lives.

Afterward, when Percy is injured on Mt. Saint Helens, Hera sends him to Ogygia to recover. Considering his injuries, this probably saved his life. It allowed him to recover in a place where time was weird, so he was able to get back within a week (rather than the potentially months it might haver otherwise taken). And that's if he would have survived without Calypso's treatment. She saved his life.

The final thing that she did was open the passage to Mt. Tam so they could see Kronos rise. This was absolutely essential for the survival of Camp Half-Blood. If they hadn't gone, then they would not have known that Kronos had regained a body (or what that body looked like). Furthermore, their being there meant that Rachel could throw the hairbrush and weaken Kronos. If she hadn't done that, then Kronos would have led the charge against Camp himself, and they would almost certainly have died.

And after all of this help, all Hera asked for was an offering. Remember, she helped more than Poseidon or Athena on this quest (both of whom did nothing). For all she did, that is the cheapest reward she could have asked for. Instead, Annabeth insulted her and told her that her help was neither wanted nor appreciated. I'm sorry, but after that, Annabeth deserved to get cursed. Any god would have cursed her for that.

I grant you that Hera was very callous when discussing the lost lives during this quest, and it wasn't great, but consider who they were talking about. Luke was a literal traitor; no way any Olympian (aside from Hermes) is sorry he's functionally dead. Dedaelus cheated death for thousands of years after killing his nephew; why should she be cut up over his death. And while Pan being spoken of like that is cold, I think it's fair to say he was mostly being lumped in with the other two. The most egregious thing she said was about Nico, but she's hardly the worst offender in Nico's case. Pan didn't mention him when they met, Hades (who most agree is a pretty well-liked god by fandom) outright said that he wished Nico was dead instead of Bianca, Persephone turned Nico into flowers, and most demigods have issues with Nico being around. I'm not saying that it's alright, but what she said is not that bad.

And after the insults thrown at her, Hera's response was to...send cows to crap around Annabeth's house. That is the most muted response she could have had. Remember, Ares cursed Percy to have his sword fail in battle because he lost a spar, Minerva took Annabeth's magical cap because she refused to start a war, Hades tried to kill Percy to earn glory for himself (through Nico). Cow poop is not that big a deal in comparison. And I know that Annabeth claims that Hera was the one to push the statue on her that Thalia saved her for, but I just don't believe it. One, that is a major escalation from cow poop. Two, Hera was busy at the time. She was literally fighting Typhon, something that was made clear was taking all the gods' focus. Are we really supposed to believe that she stopped her fight to go antagonize a demigod who was actually trying to help the gods? In The Lost Hero, Hera says that the statue was an accident. That implies that she did not know it was happening (and therefore might not even be her fault).

Overall, Hera's may come across as callous, but she is did not deserve the antagonism she was given.

The thing is, even though Hera is a bitch, she was literally a 100% right about everything when she showed up for the first time in BOTL. She wanted Annabeth and Percy to succeed; she knew best she could do to safe Olympus was to help them- and she actually did. She was right about going to Hephaestos for help and also about how to navigate in the labyrinth: She knew Percy knew the answer, deep down, and that they had to figure this out themselves. Why is Hera not likeable? Not because she isn't right about most things, but because she lacks the kindness to treat everyone with an open heart; because she cares about results and not people's feelings; because she doesn't waste a second thought on people who aren't important to her

[pseudophan]

the way literally no one said that

[housederiva]

In veilguard’s main tags no less….

[violet-moonstone]

waiting for the day that people in a certain fandom learn that you can express a dislike for a ship without insulting people who ship it.

insinuating that someone is mentally unstable for shipping something you don't like trivializes mental illness, and it's ableist as hell to use that as an insult (funny how people's so-called progressiveness goes out the window in fandom discourse)

anyway I'm talking about some specific posts i just saw but honestly this applies to fandoms in general

the people playing pretend with fictional characters can't hurt you, nor are they trying to. but you going out of your way to make sure that everyone knows you're good person because you play pretend in the correct, good, wholesome way makes being in fandom spaces fucking exhausting

more ranting under the cut

The ship in question isn't even one of those "illegal" ones; it's an age gap between an adult and another adult. Would this gap make me wary IRL? Yeah...but these are not real people. What's more, there are real couples with significant age gaps and you cannot convince me that all of them are inherently toxic.

The fact that the ship is enemies to lovers also made them upset (because of implications of abuse) but people are unfortunately not good at separating what people like to explore in fan works from what people think is healthy in the real world.

I'm always annoyed when I'm just trying to look for my ships in peace and come across those kinds of posts -- not because it annoys me that there are people who don't like it, but because the way they do it is so irritating. There's no real conversation or critique going on. It's just "eww that's so yucky! Anyone who likes this is sick!"

They are absolutely not interested in discussing complex (and sure, even unhealthy) relationships between characters in an in-depth way, because it's icky. And anything icky must be avoided at all costs because if you think about the icky thing for too long that must mean that you are actually bad person.

Anyway, turn your brain off and only consume good, wholesome things. Prove to the fandom gods that you are holy and unproblematic.

[dykedvonte]

I find the line "I have to believe our worst moments don't make us monsters." Fascinating because it comes from Anya, and I feel she really proves it the best.

For obvious reasons most people are in the "Anya did nothing wrong" camp and for good reason but there is a single action that I don't think she did well and it was her suicide. Specifically her method.

Realizing that Anya took Curly's painkillers was horrifying to me. As a Nurse I have no doubt that she'd know how terrible dying from overdose is. She had access to a gun which is well known for having a far more instant and far less painful death. And despite everything falling apart around her, knowing how bad Jimmy was, she still left Curly alive.

I don't think I thought about it much like that at first but the longer this game has sat with me the more horrified I am by the action. Curly is man who has been horribly disabled and is completely unable to help himself and he is very much a human being who does not deserve to be anywhere close to that amount of pain. Those painkillers were one that the few things that could give him any amount of relief and Anya took them.

She could have shot herself and left the painkillers for whoever was left to help Curly. She could've shot Curly and then taken the painkillers. She could've shot them both and quickly put an end to their misery, yet she didn't. Anya had a great amount of her agency stripped away from her, to the point that she didn't deem life to be worth it anymore and ended it, right next to a man who couldn't make that choice for himself even if he wanted to.

It is easily her most horrific choice and yet, she's still an angel.

(Please don't take this as Anya slander, I genuinely love her so much. I just find this to be an incredibly interesting thing)

I do subscribe to the idea that Anya realized that Jimmy was hitting Curly when giving him his medicine but didn’t intervene. I also don’t think her taking the pills from Curly as monstrous mainly because (while she knew he suffered worse with out them) she likely also knew they were basically bandaids on a bullet wound.

I have this sort of belief that that statement can only really apply to Jimmy in the inverse. Like some statements in the games aren’t meant to apply to all characters and not in every context of every action they do. It’s the idea that no one should be responsible for Jimmy’s actions but himself but they are forced to by him or the environment. Everyone is experiencing their worst moments but no one is a monster outside of Jimmy due to his inability to take responsibility and how he escalates the severity of the situation through his bad choices. Even then it’s not one moment that makes Jimmy a monster it’s the culmination of every moment that prove his inability to be anything but in this scenario.

With Anya you must remember she did have the code to the gun. Yeah, she could’ve broken it open but who’s to say how easy or how long it would’ve taken. Not to mention, there’s this misconception that she wanted the gun to kill Jimmy which isn’t true. She wanted the gun to defend herself in the case he got aggressive which is an important note of Anya being the only proactive person on the ship vs reactive. Locking the door, knowing there was no way in was likely a duel mercy for them both. A person in his state would die relatively soon without constant care and she has ample time to pass. It’s a hard decision to make for herself and someone else but it was the easiest even if it caused more damage than it was ever meant to cause.

It’s a sort of parallel to how Curly made choices he thought would help Anya and everyone but ultimately doomed them all further. Jimmy got what he wanted in both scenarios of crashing the ship and wanting Anya gone. What happened on the Tulpar will go down as a tragedy if they are ever found, a mystery if not but certainly not in a way that Jimmy wanted. Anya and the pregnancy are effectively gone but he’s still facing the repercussions for it.

There’s this idea that it’s controversial to say that Anya was anything but perfect and while I don’t think she did anything wrong, she certainly didn’t make the best choice in telling Jimmy but that again was because of the situation and environment she was in. We don’t know why she didn’t wait on Curly after their conversation in the cockpit, we know that was the plan and we know Jimmy finding out through her alone was the catalyst to the crash within like the next hour, yet you can’t really blame her. We don’t know why Jimmy came to medical nor what anyone else was doing. It can be considered her one mistake but then again we can’t blame a reasonable action on someone’s unreasonable response.

I think that’s a big aspect a lot of people look over in the characters actions. Most of them are normal, reasonable, human. But the systematic responses to them and Jimmy’s are unreasonably harsh and punishing.

This has gone off in a tangent from what you originally posed but I genuinely think of what might do happened if that confrontation happened with Curly there and away from the cock pit. I assume it’d happen in medical or even utility, hell, an area away from anything sensitive but what if? If the ability to do something awful wasn’t at Jimmy’s finger tips, if there was more than one voice in Curly’s head during that moment, what would’ve changed?

When I look at Anya I see her as having the best responses to anything happening during the events of the game but the environment, systems against her and even the other crew mates to an extent made it so it would inevitably backfire on them and mostly her hard.

[hilacopter]

torn between not being able to trust goyim to not be antisemitc anymore unless they really prove me otherwise and going "I guess we'll get along" when they find out I'm Israeli and still treat me like a human being

[yellowocaballero]

Omg hi Ms. Yellow Caballero big fan of your work <3 For real though, I'm really excited that your sharing the Weekenders, it was a joy to read and I'm bongocat-ing now that others also get the privilege to read it as well.

Referencing your tags, would you please elaborate of ableism in fandom and, like you said, how fandom treats characters with unpalatable disabilities?

Hi Ms. Bud Lite I'm a big fan of you <3

TL;DR A fear of writing characters of highly marginalized identities shields you from criticism and discomfort, but it's actively stigmatizing to people of these identities and as a writer you really need to get over yourself and write The Icky People.

I guess I'll come out swinging on this one and say that fandom doesn't like severe mental illness. (As a note, when I say severe mental illness (SMI) I mean illnesses such as psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, personality disorders, etc)

Obviously, nobody likes people w/SMI. It's just insanely egregious in fandom to me, since fanfic writers absolutely love writing characters or HC characters with depression, anxiety, or a specific variety of PTSD That Isn't Scary. People actively reject any character HCs for a SMI. When people write a character with SMI, they nicely downplay it, ignore it, substitute it for a disorder they like better, or rewrite it. It's completely untolerated, in both headcanons and in fanfiction, and every time I bring it up I always get the most interesting reasons why somebody couldn't possibly acknowledge a character's SMI in their writing. I've heard all of these:

"I don't know enough about the disorder to write it accurately." Do research.

"I'm not X, so I can't really depict it." You probably aren't a cis white man, but you depict those guys just fine.

"It feels insulting to the character." There is no shame in having a SMI.

"I can't understand what it's like, so it's better to be cautious and avoid giving characters stigmatized identities." There are LOTS of experiences that you'll never understand because you've never had them - you just don't want to write anything you're uncomfortable with. People with SMI make you uncomfortable, and you don't want to write anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, or think of a comfort character in an uncomfortable way. SMIs are marginalized differently than solely depression/anxiety/The Nice PTSD, and by refusing to write them you're actively contributing to the stigma.

I think (?) I've spoken in the past about how I believe that the rigorous external and internal policing of writing people of marginalized identities is actively harmful towards efforts to increase diversity of experience and background in fiction. A lot of fanfiction writers are just terrified to write people who they can't directly relate with, because they're worried 'they'll get it wrong' and be Big Cancelled. I think this is negative enough when it prevents people from going outside of their comfort zone, but on a macro level I think this results in people refusing to write characters of marginalized identities as all. It's an insidious thought process, and it's reflected in people's unwillingness to diversity their writing or acknowledge canon diversity.

'Well, I don't understand what it's like to be Black, so I don't want to write Black people'. 'I want to project on this character, so I only want to write them with mental illnesses and identities I have'. 'If I write a marginalized character incorrectly people will yell at me, so I won't write a marginalized character who's marginalized differently than me at all'. Can you imagine writing a lesbian character with a boyfriend because 'you feel uncomfortable writing lesbian experiences'? It's blatantly homophobic. But people do that with disability and race/ethnicity ALL THE TIME.

People with SMI notice that you feel uncomfortable with them. It's obvious. They notice when a character has a SMI + anxiety, and you only write their anxiety. They notice when a character displays symptoms of a SMI in canon, but you write it out. And POC notice when the characters of color are written out. I know we all like to project on the blorbos and relate to them, and in the joys of your own head do whatever, but as a writer if you only stick to identities you're comfortable with you are actively being a worse writer. Which to me is the REAL sin lmfao.